Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Time waits for no one



Sheryl Vidrine Cude
July 6, 1962 to July 27, 2009



How often have you ran into a relative or friend you haven't seen in a long time and promise to "stay in touch?"
But sometimes that promise gets shoved to the bottom of your "must-do" list. Months pass, then years. Your daily life continues, you go to work, come home, pay bills, watch TV, whatever.
Then a name might pop up and you remember, "wow, I really should call so-and-so," but you never find the time to call.
That happened last night, July 27. An unfamiliar number popped up on my phone about 9:30 p.m. and I almost didn't answer. Then I thought maybe one of my kids, who are now adults, might be calling from a friends number so I flipped open my phone.
It wasn't from someone I expected to hear from. Actually I hadn't spoke with this person in about three years.
Tina, my niece, was calling to tell me that her sister, Sheryl, had died the night before.
While choking back tears, Tina told me Sheryl, who is just two years older than me, had died of sleep apnea.
I was thinking that I had just seen Sheryl about a year ago or a little longer when my brother, her father, Al Vidrine, had died.
I think I only caught part of the conversation with Tina because in the back of my mind was the guilt of not keeping in touch.
Still shocked, I flipped around online and found my brothers obituary. He died in December 2006. That meant I hadn't seen or spoken to Sheryl or Tina since then.
That fact got me thinking back a little further to when Al became terminally ill and family gathered at the hospital. I had called Al through the years off and on. So when the family dispersed after the funeral we parted with the usual promise of staying in touch.
But we'd all drifted back into our own lives, all of us.
Now I'm planning to attend the funeral of yet another person I had promised I'd stay in touch with.
Mary Meaux

Monday, July 20, 2009

Rock-n-Roll, mean people and concert etiquette





My friend, Cindy Lee, treated me to a concert at The Woodlands last week - ZZ Top and Aerosmith.
Awesome.
But there was a bit of a problem.
Let me tell the whole story first.
Mean people who seem to think you should sit down, eat popcorn, nachos and pizza while watching a rock concert.
I say "mean people" because that's what they were. Cindy and I were rock 'n rollin' when ZZ, "that little ol' band from Texas," hit the stage. Since I'm a bit timid I stood next to her, tapped my foot and sang along. Cindy, who has been to more concerts that I can count, is a free spirit who grooved, danced and swayed with the music.

Then came the first person who ticked me off. A woman, seated behind us somewhere, asked us nicely to move over. She actually wanted my friend to squat down. Yea right. Cindy has untreated scoliosis. She had decided to rock 'n roll and be in pain later than sit down during a performance of her favorite band ZZ Top.
A little later a man came up behind us, put a hand on each of our shoulders, and asked us to sit down. Sure, he was polite but come on. This was a rock concert and one of the very few I've ever been to.
This made me a bit upset but Cindy said to ignore them. We paid the same price for our LAWN tickets then these people and no where on the ticket did it say that patrons were supposed to sit down during the opening act.
During brief pauses in the music we heard the chanting "sit down, sit down," from behind us.
Then the same man came back and touched me on the shoulder. He said there was a man behind him who wanted us to sit. But it wasn't actually "us" he wanted to have sit down. It was me.
I looked to Cindy, who shook her head no, then I tried to reason with him telling him how much we had paid for tickets, and told him to talk to Cindy.
He said "no. We know she's not going to sit down. She's dancing."
"Well, I don't dance," I replied, as he insisted.
"Didn't you hear the people shouting at you to sit down?" the idiot asked me.
He finally left as I started crying. I was angry and cried. That sucks. If these people had come up to me with a rude attitude I would have been able to hold my own.
As an overweight person I know that I was singled out. If I were dancing like Cindy (and others around us) I still would have been asked to sit.
But if I were a "normal size" person I seriously doubt anyone would have griped.
I waited a few minutes then walked to a nearby place to buy a bottle of water for $4. (Good thing we weren't drinking alcohol. Beer was $9.50 each and mixed drinks $12 on up.)
As I turned around I searched the crowd for the idiot and the yelling people but didn't see them.
Bear with me, there's a little more story left.
I had missed most of ZZ's performance between being told to sit down, move over and being yelled at. My fault I guess, for turning my attention to them.
Then Aerosmith came on. Before they even began, the whole crowd was on their feet screaming.
I was ticked off by then. I turned in anger and yelled some curse words that boil down to "oh no, you told me to sit down and now you're standing up."
There was one more instance where someone told us to move. This was the guy to our right, who, at one point, passed out in his $6 rental lawn seat with a lit cigarette. Yea, this genius told us to move over a bit.
I'm still embarrassed that I got upset enough to cry but these people were mean. I can usually deal with meanness. I do have a temper and am impatient a lot. Plus I have a red belt in TaeKwonDo and I know how to hold my own though I don't fight and cause a ruckus.
So, dear readers, what do you think? Was I wrong to want to STAND and jam at a rock concert even though the crowd stood later?
I don't think so.
Next time I go to a concert I'm going to wear a specially made T-shirt that says
"No, I will NOT sit down,"
in big letters across the back.

Here's my friend Cindy rockin' at the concert. Thanks Cindy for a great concert and standing up for me.
Mary Meaux

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Gamblin' on the Island
Here's this week's "things to grind on."






Casinos.
Those floating islands of luxury filled with bright lights and cacophony of the sounds of slot machines, roulette wheels and more.
Have many locals travel to Louisiana to get their game on? I know Texans go there. Just pass through the parking areas to a Louisiana casino and count the number of Texas license plates. It's amazing.
But do they belong in Texas? Or better yet, do citizens want one on Pleasure Island?
Pleasure Island, at one time many years ago, featured a dance hall/ballroom, midway with the largest roller coaster in the south and an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Now fast forward through the decades. The Island was, and is, one of the best places to fish. Recent years have seen professional fishing tournaments and if Ike hadn't hit us so hard there might have been even more, according to the Visitors and Convention Bureau who had the sad task of telling a person representing a large national tournament that the Island wasn't ready yet.
On weekends in the summer there are hundreds of people visiting the Island. And these are RV'ers either. I can attest to this because my family fishes out there. Try the south revetment road on a weekend and count the vehicles.
The Island also attracts whole families who fill up the gazebos and parks. Setting up picnics, flying kites and having fun.
The pros and cons of casino gambling has been a hot topic for a number of years and I'm not chiming in with my opinion.
Now it's your turn to talk. Do you think Pleasure Island needs a casino? Would you visit a casino if one were placed on the Island?
Or do you think casinos breed crime and would further ruin any plans of revitalizing the city?




Wednesday, July 8, 2009

On MJ's death and local news

It's been a while since I last posted, sorry folks. Been a bit busy.
As you can tell I've changed some of the layout, colors mostly, mainly because I'm getting older and the black background with white letters is hard on my eyes.
Now that I've revealed the fact that I probably need an eye exam, let's get down to business.
Michael Jackson is dead, can we move on now

No disrespect to the millions of MJ fans worldwide but I've met quite a few people lately who feel they have seen/read enough on the King of Pop.
I believe the man was a musical genius and his music will live on forever. He paved the way for others and revolutionized the music video (remember Thriller the video, way cool and a first for its time). Heck,I liked his music but I think it's time for the family to grieve, fans to grieve and to move on.
Local news
With all of the media attention to MJ some people may have forgotten that news continues to occur right here in our area.
Let's take a look at a few things:
Nederland survey

Nederland is updating their 10 year strategic plan for development and rightfully so. Cities change, population changes and needs change.
The Nederland Strategic Planning Citizen Survey tapped into the opinions of a cross sampling of the community and touched included issues of physical/city facilities, citizens business, governance and level of services.
Responses were divided into categories of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, or SWOT, then the input was prioritized by category and ranked with the top three priorities in each section. The information was looked at in the context of growth, stability, decline and re-development.
The top three strengths listed by residents include the school district, proximity of resources and a safe and secure town.
The school district is a big draw especially for those not wanting their children in certain other school districts. I'm not judging the opinions of those people, just stating a fact I've learned as a reporter.
One problem mentioned by the consultant who went over the findings was the condition of the district's facilities. A recent bond issue was shot down by voters and now, as budget time approaches, the district will likely be dealing with the same issues again such as aging schools.
While "safe and secure town" is listed as a strength,crime in nearby areas and subsidized housing are listed as numbers two and three on the list of weaknesses. While the respondents didn't come out and say which town had the crime they are worried about it's obvious the town is Port Arthur. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
You can draw your own conclusions. I'm certainly not bashing the Port Arthur Police Department. They do a heck of a job and Chief Blanton and his crew work their tails off to make the streets safe and ride PA of gang violence.
As for subsidized housing, I'm guessing they might mean a certain apartment complex located directly across FM 365 in PA but is in Nederland ISD.
So what would bring in new business to Nederland and what business should it be?
There's not room to expand and create a themepark as some citizens said they want so what's some ideas?
Arsons

While many people were out celebrating Independence Day, someone was out setting fires. Scary stuff.
Three fires to be exact.
A vehicle at a construction site, a part of the construction site and a limo parked at a nearby attorney's office were torched.
And we can all remember the arson case that happened in January that destroyed a section of the former Lincoln High School. A hearing was held recently and a juvenile will face charges as an adult.
The 15-year-old will have his day in court and let's let the courts decide his guilt or innocence.
As for me, I'm 44-years-old and cannot remember a time when there was this amount of arson in the area and it's scary.
What if someone had been hurt or killed? Why does someone do these types of crimes?
NOTE
For those who choose to respond, please be civil. No racial remarks please. I think we, as adults, can give an opinion without being ugly about it, ok.
So, grind away.
Let us know if you think Michael Jackson has had enough coverage.
Let us know what you think about the Nederland survey.
And chime in on the topic of arson too.
Have a great day and check back with the Daily Grind because I plan on updating at least once a week, maybe more.
Mary Meaux